How was the weekend for all? I feel like mine was a blur actually....Saturday I embarked on a shopping adventure never to be rivalled by anyone anywhere ever for all of time!!! Hahaha....ok, perhaps I am being just a teeeeny weeeeeny bit overly dramatic, but it went something like this (let your mind play some dream sequence music here)....

'Twas just this past Saturday.....

I nominated myself to buy gifts for 19 children in our family, to make things simpler for one and all (I am NOT included in the one and all!) and so I drive into the big city and decide my first stop will be the mall (What? The mall!?! Who does that on the 2nd last shopping Saturday of the Christmas season!?! It's me. I do. Because I'm a big dumb dumb). Not only did I go to the mall, but I went to Toys R Us! (I know, I'm a psycho!)

I walk into a store that seems more like a mad-house for crazy (and angry) people, and realize quickly that my heart is racing, I'm sweating, I'm smiling at strangers who are thinking I"M the mental one, and are therefore not smiling back at me, and I think I'm about to go into cardiac arrest!

So, I left Toys R Us! I semi-ran out of there, actually.....I was there for about 20 minutes and knew that A:the empty and/or wildly messy shelves were not going to yield anything worth looking for, and B: that everything seemed just a little more expensive than usual....? Do they put the prices up knowing crazy people will do anything to get that exact thing their child wanted? Golly gee.

So, I left the loonie-bin and decided I would go to Party City (never been? It's puuuurdy much my fav place! You can shop it online too, fyi!) It is full to the roof of every party thing imaginable, including party favours, games and toys, candy (sooooo much candy!!!), and really helpful staff (at least here at the Belleville location).

I wasn't actually completely finished, and headed over to Michaels Arts & Crafts store for a few more items, then (after I went to the Theatre for a 2 hour production meeting for the upcoming musical!!!) I headed to Wal-Mart for my last few things I needed to find! I realized at some point I was talking out loud to myself about toys I was looking at, laughing out loud at someone who made an announcement on the p.a. system who sounded like Pee-wee Herman, and then I opened a bag of chocolate covered ju-jubes and started eating them as I finished up (yes, I paid for them!). I believe I was at the end of my "normal"!

I spent about 40 minutes in Wal-Mart, and then I was finally, finally finished with the day of craziness!

....until I got home and had to unload all the loot and sort & organize it and make sure I had gotten a fair amount of this and that for each child/age group, etc.....

The End.

Yes, I know it doesn't have that usual feel a classic Christmas story should have, but I think it's awesome. I shall tell the story for years to come to my children, and my children's children, gathered around the fireplace each wintry Christmas eve..... : )

Me & the receipt from Party City!!!

Let's move on, shaaaall we!?!

I wanted to chat today about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). It is my favourite type of exercise because it gets a lot done in a short amount of time!

HIIT is a method of exercise where you alternate between high intensity, aerobic exercises and low-intensity, recovery exercises.

I didn't know about "HIIT" until March 2014, but I had done it in the past, just by a different name.

Someone had mentioned to me that their doctor had recommend they try "bursting" exercises instead of the usual 20 minute stationary bike ride. The Dr. told my friend that they should try 1 minute of intense, full speed stationary bike riding, then followed by 1 minute of ab crunches, pushups, holding a plank, and any other strength building exercise that she could "recover" in.

I thought this method was interesting, but didn't put it into practice until the summer of 2010 when I was in need of shedding some pregnancy weight I was lugging around.

We were staying in a very small cottage for about 16 weeks, and the space I had to work in was very small, but I figured I could do 10 minutes a day, and that would be a great start to feeling better and loosing some weight.

Well, I was literally shocked at the way it started to change my body! My initial "bursts" were really basic (I had very limited internet access and so I just wrote out a list of ten exercises I could do and had a timer going on the computer to help), but this "bursting" thing was really effective!

Baby Keziah and I the summer I first tried "bursting"

What makes "bursting" or HIIT so effective?

According to the Daily Burn, "this type of training gets and keeps your heart rate up and burns more fat in less time. “A high-intensity workout increases the body’s need for oxygen during the effort and creates an oxygen shortage, causing your body to ask for more oxygen during recovery,” says Eric Salvador, NASM, NSCA, head instructor at The Fhitting Room in New York City. “This afterburn effect is referred to as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and is the reason why intense exercise will help burn more fat and calories than regular aerobic and steady-state workouts.”

Other reasons for HIIT being so effective (and popular) are that it increases your metabolism, it's convenient and can be as long or short as you want, and you can do it without any equipment! This article at Simply Shredded talks about many of the pros and medical studies done on the benefits of HIIT.

The truth is, I don't really like running. I don't like hour-long cardio sessions. I like biking....but I don't own a bike. I don't live close to a pool, and I sure don't live close to a gym, and I couldn't afford it even if there was one right next door!

HIIT is an amazing fitness solution for a lot of people. If you're older, out of shape, new to exercise, short on time, have no equipment, you can make this work for you. And why not? Why not trying to give yourself your best health you can? I'm not getting paid to sell anything here friends, I just cannot share enough about HIIT training! : )

The last year or so I have loved adding jump-rope to my training. I works a lot of muscles and gets you red-faced and out of breath quick!

Anywho, let me share with you some videos that I enjoy....

Below is a 10 minute, full body HIIT workout from Class FitSugar (of POPSUGAR Fitness) that I enjoy!

Next up is a 10 minute jump rope & ab HIIT that has you alternating between jumping rope, then doing a plank variation. This woman (Sara) is a little weird, funny, rude, but I really like this video.​

And, of course, I always like having a non-internet reliant idea for a workout, so I like to use my "Do Anywhere" 10 minute HIIT.

I hope that this brief info about High Intensity Interval Training gave you some new ideas about fitness and working out. Put away the dated notion of endless cardio with little to no results! Embrace short bursts of really hard work with really big results! Imagine me now, standing on my soap box at the corner saying all of this to you in a big, dramatic, using lots of hand gestures kind of way! : )

xo​

P.S. I need to remind ya'll that I am not a health care practitioner, and my opinions are my own. If you decide to try something I recommend or talk about, you do so at your own risk. You can read my full Health & Fitness Disclaimer here.